"We touch down on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere…no atmosphere…there's gravity, but it's low. The recon droids say there's a small rebel base buried in the asteroid's surface. Intelligence thinks the Rebels are trying to set up a relay station to transmit illegal broadcasts to the nearby systems. We're here to break in and wreck the place."

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The Imperials invaded the facility and engaged the Rebel SpecForce in firefights in the corridors of the installation. Though the stormtrooper squads were decimated by entrenched and prepared Rebel soldiers, Katarn's quick thinking and latent Forceprecognition allowed them to evade an ambush and continue the fight until most of the Rebel soldiers were wiped out.

Cadet Leader Katarn on AX-456.

Their retreat blocked by a cave-in, the Imperials progressed until encountering fifteen or twenty Rebels who were ready to surrender, more potential prisoners than there were stormtroopers left to guard them. One of these Rebels, Jan Ors, had a particular impact on Katarn, who took a liking toward her. Katarn's dilemma was further exacerbated by the arrival of a freighter carrying Rebel reinforcements. Against the protest of Sergeant Major Hong, Katarn ultimately ordered his men to spare the prisoners and take up positions in the cafeteria, fortifying for the impending attack.

The wave of Rebel reinforcements killed or incapacitated the remaining stormtroopers, and two more ships arrived to evacuate the surviving staff of AX-456. Imperial reinforcements arrived soon after, however, and destroyed one of the evacuating ships before sweeping through the abandoned Rebel base. A group of commandos found the broken remains of Katarn's squads; in the end, only 6 stormtroopers had survived, Hong being one of the Imperial casualties, and Katarn himself was seriously wounded.

Katarn emerged an Imperial hero and was, perhaps quite ironically, decorated by Rom Mohc and Jerec, both of whom he would later destroy.

Ors and Katarn later gained a close relationship, and Katarn defected to the Alliance after Ors revealed to him that the Galactic Empire killed his father.